22. The Great Wall


The Wall spans the mountainous terrain

Day 16

Wake up call was for 7:00 AM. Breakfast was served in the hotel dining room between 7:30-8:30 AM. It was great!.

Our group assembled in the lobby about 9:00 AM. Today we go to the Great Wall. The drive from the hotel was about one-and-one-half hours. We drove through the busy city of BeiJing and out into the countryside. It was a very interesting drive.

Seeing the Great Wall, or BaDaLing -- it's an experience that is hard to describe. Imagine driving northward over relatively flat terrain and suddenly find yourself looking over the rim of the Grand Canyon. The feeling is very much like that. It is AWESOME!

Blurb about the Great Wall, or BaDaLing   (click for big photo)

As early as the seventh century BC, segments of the Wall were being built for protection from the marauding Mongols as well as neighboring states. It's about 4,000 miles long, built entirely by hand. As much as 1,500 miles of it were built during the reign of Qin Shi Huang Di (221 - 206 BC). The building of the Great Wall continued into the Han and Sui dynasties.

The northern part of the Qin empire was sparsely occupied by nomadic tribes. Enemy invaders could attack easily. Qin Shi Huang Di specified that the wall should be six horses wide at the top, eight horses wide at the bottom and five men high. 

The Wall flooded is with tourists

The emperor's soldiers grabbed criminals, troublemakers, musicians, teachers, writers, artists and peasants to help build the Great Wall. In all, about one million people (China had about five million then) marched north to build the Great Wall. They worked throughout the day and night. Workers, who resisted, were buried alive. Many Chinese spent the rest of their life building the Great Wall. Many dead Chinese were buried in the Wall. 

The Wall was so formidable that the Mongols did not threaten China again for more than one thousand years. 

Along the road to the Wall were shops selling just about any kind of souvenirs you might want. Virginia and Glenda, her cousin, chose to go on top of the wall and up the mountain -- Bill, Carl and Dick remained below.

Shops along the road to the Wall

There were two paths -- one was the "sissy" path and the other was steeper and far more difficult. Glenda and Virginia braved the mountain on the "sissy" path. They got about one-third of the way up, but turned back. The air was becoming very thin because of the elevation and they both became a little dizzy and light-headed.

While they were on top of the Wall, they saw a gentleman carving a statue out of stone. Who the statue would be was a mystery. He was working hard in the hot sun -- later, we learned that the temperature reached 99 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Sculpter by the Wall

Photographing beautiful girls in ancient costumes

Also on the wall, there were two Chinese girls dressed in ancient Chinese costumes with large beautiful headdresses. One sat on a live camel while the other sat on a colorfully painted wooden throne while their pictures were being taken. These two girls were so outstanding that they caught everyone's eyes wherever they went.

The Wall meanders is over many peaks and valleys

One of the Wall's many towers

As Virginia and Glenda came down from the Wall, there were hundreds of school children, their teachers and parents just beginning their walk on the Wall. This being National Children's Day, there was no school. We were surprised to see the children here -- we thought that all the children would be at the Tian An Men Square celebration. 

While Glenda and Virginia had been walking on the Wall, Carl, Bill and Dick had gone into the McDonald's-like restaurant, which had a Chinese name only. They relaxed for an hour or so, then took a leisurely walk back up to the museum to find a bench in the shade. We all met there.

Tapestries in a shop on the road to the Wall

The bus was being loaded, but we decided to buy another "throw-away" camera. Virginia dashed across the parking lot to the Kodak shop. When she saw their $35 US price, our "need" diminished. Just the evening before, we learned that digital camera media may cost twice as much near our hotel in BeiJing as in the USA. For our next trip, we will come prepared with more camera media.

We left the parking lot about 12:15 PM and headed for lunch. We stopped at a restaurant in a small village on the way back to BeiJing. It was quite a bit different from the fancy spreads to which we had become accustomed, but this one was on us. 

Connected to the restaurant was an enormous gift shop. Our treasury was about to peter out and we had very little room in our baggage, so we settled for just looking. Maybe it's just that it was all so different, but everything seemed to be so beautiful. What fun it would be to just buy, buy, buy! Ah, well!

We return to board our bus

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